Cooling-tower.



L. R. ALBERGER, DEGD. B. D. ALBERGEB, s. o. ROSS & A. H. ALBBRGER, 2x12011120.

COOLING TOWER.

APPLIOATION FILED 0(]T.1 1909- Patented May 26, 1914.

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IJ'NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIS R. ALBERGER, OF GREENIUICH, CONNECTICUT; BLANGHE DODGE ALBERG-ER .AND SCOTT O. ROSS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., AND ALVAN H. ALBERGER, OF HAMBURG,

NEW YORK, EXECUTORS OF SAID LOUIS R. ALBERGER, DECEASED, ASSIGNORS TO ALBERGER CONDENSER COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

COOLING-TOWER.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, LOUIS R. ALBERGER, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Greenwich, in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements 1n Cooling-Towers, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing.

This invention is concerned with that class of apparatus denominated cooling towers, the function of which is to cool water, or watery liquid, or some other similar liquid, by distributing it in such a manner that a large surface will be exposed and acted upon by a current or currents of air.

The invention relates more particularly to that special type of cooling tower in which the liquid is spread out or sprinkled over surfaces formed by boards geometrically arranged in a regular manner in the tower so as to positively determine a complete and ultimate distribution of the water and the air, or over surfaces provided by the use of wire cloth, earthenware, or other materials, and in which the air is drawn through the interstices of the filling thus formed and then discharged to the surrounding atmosphere by means of a fan or mechanical ventilator. And the invention consists essen tially in so arranging the fan and its housings, and its actuating and other appurtenant parts, that the action of the fan may be discontinued when desired, and the flow or air obtained by a natural draft, through the action of a stack or chimney, in order that the best results may be attained with the simplest construction, and so that the same tower may at one time be operated with a mechanical circulation of the air and at another time by a natural draft.

In my present invention, the fan or equivalent device which creates the mechanical or artificial draft of air is generally, though not always, located above the filling. This has been found to produce many beneficial results, the most important being the reduction of the head against which the pump supplying the water to be cooled has to work. This is so on account of the fact that the filling is placed close to the ground level, and the highly eflicient manner in which the air uniformly enters the bottom Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 1, 1909.

Patented May 26, 1914. Serial No. 520,579.

of the tower, passes at a moderate speed through the filling, and is finally discharged by the fan to the atmosphere. The point of highest velocity is at the latter place where the discharge is free and unobstructed. The power required to operate both the circulating water pumpand the fan is thus greatly reduced when compared with other forms of towers in which the air is forced under and upwardly through the filling, because of the elevation of the filling necessary to provide a chamber for the fan and entering air beneath, and because of the impinging of the air at high velocity against the filling with the useless costof power thereby employed.

In the practical use of cooling towers, as adjuncts to steam condensers, ammonia condensers, and other similar apparatus, it frequently happens that the amount of cooling water is so lessened, or the temperature of the atmosphere is so low, that a natural circulation of the air would ensue without the operation of the fan, if the obstructive influence of the latter when not in motion could be removed and a stack provided instead.

One of the principal objects of my present invention, therefore. is to so arrange the elements of cooling towers of the preferred type above-mentioned that the air can be drawn through the tower either by the fan, or by the natural draft set up by the heated air itself and without any expenditure of power for this purpose; and also to meet an intermediate condition when the natural draft is not sufiicient, and the fan draft would be unnecessarily great, to permit of the fan assisting the natural draft to the desired extent.

The invention, therefore, consists essentially in the construction, arrangement and combination of parts substantially as will be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating my invention, Figure 1 is a vertical sectional side elevation of my improved cooling tower having an elevated stack and showing the fan situated in said stack. Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the fan located below the stack, though above the filling of the tower, and with certain changes from Fig. 1 in the cooperating parts. Fig. 8 is a similar view, with the contracted stack omitted and the cylindrical form of the tower continued toward the top, and with the fan arranged similarly to that in Fig. 2. Fig. 4: is a similar view showing the tower provided with a stack and indicating a still different arrangement of the fan, whereby an inductive action on the air is caused. Fig. 5 is a similar View illustrating another modification and alternative form for certain of the parts. Fig. 6 is a detail side view of a fan having adjustable blades and showing the blades in one position of their adjustment. Fig. 7 is another side view of the adjustably-bladed fan, showing the blades in a different position of adjustment. Fig. 8 is a detail view of the fan hub.

Like characters of reference designate like parts throughout the different figures of the drawing.

Referring to Figs. 1, 2, 4:, and 5, 1 designates the main shell of a cooling tower which is preferably cylindrical in form and may be made of sheet steel, wood, concrete, or any other suitable material. Above this main cylindrical shell 1 is a conical section 2, which reaches from the diameter of the main shell 1 to the smaller diameter of a superposed stack or draft chimney 3 which may be elevated to any desired height, the height being greater or less according to the temperature to which the air is heated and the desired amount of chimney effect. Inside of the main shell 1 is the filling 4. This occupies the interior of the shell 1 from the bottom up to a suitable point below the conical section 2 and consists preferably of boards geometrically arranged in horizontal rows one above another in a regular manner, the alternate rows crossing at right-angles those directly underneath, so that in this way the filling offers throughout its arrangement a multiplicity of interstitial openings through which the air and water pass. T his kind of an arrangement of filling recommends itself because of the uniform effective ness of the sheetsof water exposed to the air on its extended surface. I give the board filling, however, merely as one example of a convenient and effective medium for the purpose intended, but reserve the liberty of employing substitute fillings of any efiicient variety such as wire-cloth, earthenware, or other materials, wherever they are found useful or convenient. 5 denotes a pipe which conveys to the cooler the heated water which is to be cooled. It enters the lower portion of the tower and then passes up centrally therein, having at its upper end a distributer 6, consisting of several horizontal perforated arms through which the water has exit and can spread in a sheet or spray over the top of the filling, downwardly through which it passes. The precise form of the distributer is immaterial and may vary within wide limits, it being only necessary that the hot water should be discharged above the filling and permitted to fall upon the latter. At the base of the shell 1 is a foundation 7 having piers on which the shell 1 rests, and in this foundation is a well or receptacle 8 that receives the water falling downwardly from above through the filling, said receptacle 8 having a removal pipe 9 through which the water is carried off. In the foundation 7 and around the bottom periphery of the shell 1 are openings or interstices 10 between the piers, through which atmospheric air passes into the bottom of the shell and thence upwardly through the tower. There may be any desired number of the openings 10 devised and applied in any preferred way, provided only the object is gained of admitting air at the base of the tower. 11 denotes an example of fan, which in Fig. 1 is seen to be mounted on the upper end of a vertical shaft 12. This shaft is supported at the lower end in a step bearing 13, and at its upper end by a collar bearing 14;. The fan is adjustable up and down on the shaft 12 in a manner to be presently explained. A Pelton water wheel 15 is fixed on the shaft 12 a short distance above the step bearing 13 and is actuated by water supplied thereto in any desired manner, and has for its function the furnishing of power from an outside source to rotate the shaft 12 and thus actuate the fan. Thus it will be seen that I employ a fan-actuating water-motor. Of course, the Pelton wheel is mentioned simply as one eX- ample of water motor for driving the fan shaft, an alternative means consisting of a different kind of water motor or other de vice may be employed if desired. Thus, for instance, in Fig. 2, I have indicated a pinion 16 on the fan shaft 12, which pinion is driven by a bevel gear 17 on a horizontal shaft 18 which is rotated by power applied to a pulley 19 on said shaft. T he fan 11 may be arranged in a variety of ways to slide up and down upon the shaft 12. One way is to employ a split hub 20, see Fig. 8, provided with tightening bolts 21 which firmly clamp the fan to the shaftwhen it is in use, but which may be loosened and slackened to allow the fan to be lowered out of its active position when an exclusively natural circu lation of air is to be employed. In Fig. 1 it will be noticed that the fan is indicated in its active position in full lines in the stack where it substantially fills the stack, the latter thus serving as the fan casing, and hence when the fan is driven a strong current of air will be created in the stack. If, however, the fan is dropped from this active position to the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, where it is in the wide section or main shell of the tower, being new in the shell 1 where there is plenty of space between the outer periphery of the fan and the wall of the shell, it will be understood that here the fan offers only a slight interference to the passage of a natural air current; Whereas, if it were left in the active position in the stack 8, it would while standing still and idle be quite an obstruction to a natural air current. If desired the bolts 21 may be removed and the fan disconnected entirely from the shaft 12 and'removeol from the tower. This might be desirable if the period of inaction is to be a long one, during which the natural draft is to be exclusively relied on. Another way of converting the fan from an active agent into an idle and unobstructive element for the time being is indicated in Figs. 6 and 7, where it is seen that the vanes or blades 22 of the fan are pivoted at their points of support 23 so that they may be turned, as in Fig. 7, into vertical planes where they will offer very little resistance to the passage of the air, and this can be done without dismantling 0r removing, and it will be found that with the blades in this position the air will pass very freely as compared with the obstructive action of the blades when in the inclined position of an active fan as indicated in Fig. 6.

In Figs. 2 and 3, I have shown a differentform of the invention in some repects, wherein the fan 24 is located in a housing 25. Said housing is provided with hinged doors 26, so that a free passage up and down through the tower is provided at the sides of or around the fan. In Fig. 2 the stack 3 and the conical section 2 are employed in conjunction with the shell I, but in Fig. 3 I extend the shell 1 upwardly much farther than is the case in Fig. 2or in Fig. 1, having it in fact the same diameter throughout from bot tom to top, and this larger diameter allows a freer and fuller passage of the air than is the case with the stack form shown at 3 11 some of the other figures.

Many other variations in the form and arrangement are entirely possible, but they are all within the scope of my idea if they employ a fan to draw the air through the filling when a mechanical agent is needed for the circulation, and such circulation is required to assist or increase the natural draft and provide a relatively free and sufficiently unobstructed passage to permit of a natural draft when the latter is sufficient to produce unaided the desired cooling effect. In this manner a very flexible and economical machine is obtained. If the outside air is 000-1 and the contrast in specific gravity between it and the heated moist air in the filling and stack is suflicient to produce an upward flow through the tower to accomplish the cooling, then I keep the fan at rest, open a free passage for the air, and work with no expenditure of power. If, on the other hand, the natural draft is not quite sufficient, I increase it by operating the fan at moderate speed, consuming only the power needed in conjunction with the natural draft to produce the result, the free passages in this instance being closed. Again, if the demand for a cooling effect becomes greater, I increase the speed up to the maximum, if need be. In the latter case there may still be some benefit derived from the natural draft, or there may not be, this depending largely upon the proportions and capacity of the apparatus and the various temperature of the heated water, the heated and moist air, and the outside air and its humidity. At all events, I save whatever value there may be and obtain the circulation of air with the least possible expenditure of power.

In Fig. 4 I have illustrated still another construction in which the fan in its inoperative condition presents so slight an obstruction to the passage of the air by natural draft, that it becomes unnecessary to unlimher or change the fan, or to open any doors like the doors 26 in Figs. 2 and 3, or provide other by-pass means to remove the fans retarding influence on the draft. In Fig. 4'

the fan 28 is placed in such a position, as

shown, and is so provided with a suitable housing, as 27, around the fan 28, that only a portion of the air is moved directly by the fan, the balance being set in motion by the inductive action of the former portion. Of course the velocity of the fan-moved air is greater than the average velocity of the entire body of air, but the final result is the same. The annular or other openings provided at 29 between the fan and the wall of the tower wherein the induced flow of air operates, form ample passages for the air when the natural draft is called into effect.

In Fig. 5, I have delineated a further alternative form of the invention. In the description of the foregoing forms, the position of the fan has been stated and has been shown as being above the filling, but it is obvious that it may be located elsewhere and produce practically the result of drawing the cooling air through the filling, although that particular portion of the air which is in the first instance moved by the fan may come directly from the atmosphere or some other source. In said Fig. 5, there is shown a fan 30 located outside of the tower on the ground level, if so be, and preferably not far distant from the shell 1, so that it may take its supply of air from the surrounding atmosphere. A pipe 31 leads from the fan through the wall of the shell 1 and into the interior of the shell where it discharges cent-rally. The fan is of such a type that it moves a relatively small volume of air at such a velocity that in the space above the filling it will induce a series of secondary flows of air drawn from the filling through the annular spaces of the several induction rings 32 there provided. WVhen the fan is stopped or reduced in speed,

the natural draft will have full opportunity to carry on the needed circulation, for the series of graduated induction rings, as Well as the part of the pipe 31 within the shell, will not offer any serious obstruction to the free upward movement of the air which is ascending through the tower and the filling therein.

Having thus described my inventiomwhat I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

l. A cooling tower built to permit a natural draft of air and having a filling, in cflnlbination with a fan located above said filling and adapted to augment the natural draft when required, said fan being arranged with an open passage bet-ween it and the wall of the tower.

2. In a cooling tower, the combination with a shell, of a stack for producing a natural draft, and a fan for drawing air through the filling, said fan being arranged with an open passage between it and the wall of the tower.

3. In a cooling tower, the combination of a shell having a filling, a natural draft stack, a fan for drawing air through the filling, said fan being arranged with a. passage between it and the wall of the tower, and means for augmenting the action of the stack to a greater or less degree.

at. In a cooling tower, the combination of a shell, a filling therein, a superposed natural draft stack, a mechanical agent above the filling for creating an artificial draft, said agent being arrangedwith a passage between it and the wall of the tower, and means for localizing said agent relatively to the stack so that it may occupy either an idle or an operative position and thus act independently of or in association with the natural draft.

5. In a cooling tower, the combination of a shell, a filling therein, means for admitting air at the bottom of the shell, a natural draft stack superposed upon the shell, means above the filling for creating an artificial draft, said means being arranged with an open passage between it and the wall of the tower, and means for moving said latter means from an active to an inactive position or the reverse.

6. In a cooling tower, the combination of a shell, a filling therein, a well beneath the same, means for admitting air at the base of the shell so that it may pass upwardly through the filling, a device above the filling for creating an artificial'draft of air, said device being arranged with an open space between it and the wall of the tower, and means for moving said device from an active to an inactive position or the reverse.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

LOUIS R. ALBERGER. Witnesses R. M. HoPKINs, IV. S. DORAN.

Gopie: of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. G. 

